The debate rages over whether meat eating is a climate crime. Cattle and sheep belch methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, but if living on grassland, help maintain and even build carbon in the soil (see link to Soil Association report below). Pigs and chickens avoid the methane problem, but rely over heavily on soya which may be grown on land that has been deforested to make way for it.
In a more perfect world, our pigs and poultry would live largely on our waste. They would recycle the millions of tons of food thrown away every year from supermarkets, manufacturers and kitchens. As omnivores, they are well suited to this role, and traditionally, for instance, cheese makers would keep pigs to consume the whey. But after foot and mouth, many types of waste cannot legally be fed to pigs, and the scale of production and logistical challenges would make it tricky for many producers.
How should we respond to all this as individuals and as a business whose main income is from meat production? Personally, I have never been one for rampant meat consumption. I love meat, and eat it happily if I know it’s been reared kindly, but I don’t feel the need to eat it every day. Despite my physically active life, three or four portions a week seems about right to keep my energy levels high. As a business, our aim has always been to give those who wish to eat meat the opportunity to do so with a relatively clear conscience – and with maximum enjoyment! Animals are a key part of our fertility building on the farm, and allow us to grow crops and vegetables without the use of (energy expensive) artificial fertilisers, especially nitrogen. While people still want to eat meat and dairy products, we will urge them to choose to buy from farms like ours which respect and care for an animal’s right to a good life and stress-free death. When the world goes vegan, then we will have to fundamentally reshape our farming system, and our meat enterprises will have to go. That’s fine. What would not be fine is thoughtless consumption of ‘cheap’ meat with no regard for the environmental or welfare consequences.
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